In a 32-foot sloop named the Gypsy Moon, attorney Michael Hurley sails solo from Annapolis to Nassau.

After losing his job and going through a nasty divorce, Hurley finds himself in a gloomy mid-life crisis. He decides to fulfill one of his personal dreams – “to sail a small boat over the open ocean, bound for no destination but the horizon.”

As he prepares for the journey, Hurley looks back at his life, narrating the events that brought him to his present status. Speaking from the heart, he confesses his unfaithfulness to his wife and his subsequent feelings of regret and guilt. This retrospective interlude, along with others throughout the tale, provides two important functions: first, they integrate the reader into the story. The reader knows what’s going on. Second, they clarify Hurley’s humanity. Like most people, he’s made mistakes. He regrets some of his choices. Yet he’s honest enough to share them, believing, hoping that most readers will sympathize.